The Jesuits Missions in South America:
The Indios Guaraní of Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil would have been other indigenous victims of the colonial conquest in South America, hadn't the Jesuits been able to persuade the King of Spain to grant that vast region to their care. The Jesuits promised the King generous rewards, in the form of tributes, in exchange of the exemption from the "encomiendas" (hard labor to which all the other Indios were subjected), assuring that the region would be an Imperial dominion thanks only to the Gospel power.
Therefore, for about 150 years, the Jesuits succeeded in protecting the Guaraní from the raids of the slave-hunters from Sao Paulo (Paulistas). They founded several missions or "reductions" and developed a kind of evangelization a bit peculiar for that time. They put into practice the precepts of the Gospel, isolated the Guaraní from the bad influences of the Europeans and developed the creativity of the Indios.
The Jesuits, in the 17th and 18th Centuries, achieved this bold experiment in religious colonization. It encompassed the vast zone of today’s Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, southern Brazil, and Uruguay. It was one of the most singular creations of the Catholic missionary activity. The first settlement was founded in 1609. Many other Missions were established along the rivers, in the Chaco, Guaira, and Paraná territories.
Guided by the Jesuits, the Indios had advanced laws, founded free public services for the poor, schools, hospitals, established birth control, and suppressed the death penalty. A kind of society based on the principles of the primitive Christianity was established. All the inhabitants of the reductions worked in the "tupambae" lands property of the community, and all the products which they produced were fairly divided among them. The Guaraní were very skilled in handicraft works, sculpture, woodcarving etc.; the reductions were the first "industrial" state of South America. Indeed, such advanced products as watches, musical instruments, etc. were produced. The first typography of the New World was built in the reductions. The working day was of about 6 hours (in Europe at that time was of 12-14 hours), and the free time was dedicated to music, dance, bow-shot contests, and to prayer. The Guaraní society was the first in history to be entirely literate.
These missions reached their apogee in the first half of 18th century, gathered around about 30 missions. 100.000 to 300.000 Indios converted to Catholicism. The missions assumed almost full independence, as if they were real nations.
The "reductions" were centers of the community life. Around a wide square were concentrated the main buildings, like the church, the college, the churchyard. The Indios’ houses were faced on the other three sides of the square. The village was also provided with a house for the widows, a hospital, and several warehouses. In the centre of the square, a huge cross and the patron Saint statue rose on a tall base, after which the mission was named.
Bolivian Jesuits Missions:
Between 1696 and 1760, six ensembles of reductions (settlements of Christianized Indians), inspired by the 'ideal cities' of the 16th-century philosophers, were founded by the Jesuits in a style that married Catholic architecture with local traditions. Up until our days, they remain alive. The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are located at the northeast of Bolivia, 200 Km. away from Santa Cruz city, capital of the state.
To travel to Chiquitania is to transport oneself to the missionary world and discover the towns founded by the Jesuits towards the end of the 17th century. The Jesuits wanted to make a marvelous utopia a come true: make the creation of the earth, the "City of God", a peaceful evangelization and civilization of the native towns.
Located in the heart of the Bolivian forest, the Jesuit Missions are the main Jesuit's settlement in the new world who remained in the Chiquitanos lands for less than a century, creating admirable societies in productivity, order, and architecture.
The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos lasted for more than three centuries. They were built between 1691 and 1760, and they awake the admiration and interest of those who visit them due to the architecture of their temples of Mestizo-Baroque style, where they highlight paintings, murals, splendid golden altars, colossal columns carved in wood, and a variety of beautiful carvings that adorn the altarpieces, pulpits, and set of drawers. The churches emulate the appearance of European constructions, due to the influence of the Swiss priest and main architect of The Missions, the Jesuit Martin Schmidt, who worked with indigenous and Jesuits groups and built these impressive churches, where you can appreciate the technique learned by native people that mixed with their own vision turns into enriched art.
In the towns forbidden to Spaniards, the natives would not only learn to farm the land and make all the handicraft works, but they would also be introduced to the world of painting and sculpture, music and dancing, and worshipping the Lord. The wealth of the Baroque music, composed and executed in the missions - which is a unique collection in America - is currently conserved in the File of Chiquitos de Concepción, and the music pieces are executed with a biennial frequency in the "Missions of Chiquitos" American Renaissance and Baroque International Music Festivals.
Currently, the magnificent temples are still kept in place, as is the urban design and the remembrance of religious and folkloric customs.
The high artistic level and the deep cultural meaning of the works made UNESCO declare the towns of San Javier, Concepción, San Miguel, San Rafael, Santa Ana, and San José de Chiquitos, Patrimony of Humanity in 1991.
The Missionary route
From Santa Cruz to San Javier - 140 miles (paved road)
From San Javier to Concepción - 45 miles (paved road)
From Concepción to San Ignacio - 110 miles(un paved road - padding earth)
From San Ignacio to San Miguel, San Rafael y Santa Ana - 100 miles(unpaved road)
From San Ignacio to San José de Chiquitos - 128 miles (unpaved road)
San Javier: First reduction founded by the Jesuits in 1691. It was the seat of a music school and a shop for the making of musical instruments. Around the town, the vegetation was characterized by the surprising symbiosis of the bibosi and motacu plants. Besides, Las Piedras del Paquio, the Mirador, Piedra de los Apóstoles, Aguas Calientes, the Tumbos, and the Aguas Tibias country houses.
Nowadays it is an agricultural and cattle - raising town. The rustic aspect of the earth - floor streets and traditional manor houses, with missional motives decorated adobe walls, and shady galleries with wooden pitchforks, creates an ideal surrounding that highlights the majesty of the missional group.
Some attractive tour sites: The Square, the Church with the Major Altarpiece, the Misereen Chapel, the Confessional boxes, and the belfry.
Concepción: Founded in 1708, it is characterized for simplicity and quietness of its streets, boarderlined by adobe houses with galleries. It also has a great variety of orchids. Here the Jesuitic past is revived with greater frequency on the Holy Week celebrations. Missional Museum, and the Anthropological Museum. Besides these, you can visit the artificial dam, the stone of Santa Teresita, the spa of Zapoco, the Pachanga and Dolorida lagoon, and Pedrito port.
Some attractive tour sites: The Square, the Bishopric, the Cathedral of the Apostle Vicariate, the Belfry, the Confessional boxes, the Musical File, the
San Ignacio de Velasco: Considered the greatest town of the missional route and the main gateway to Noel Kempff Mercado Park. It is characterized by the revaluing of the missional past reflected in the creation of handicraft shops of ceramics, furniture, embroidered hammocks, and leather items. San Rafael, and Santa Ana, where the indigenous customs are still in use.
Some attractive tour sites: The Church of San Ignacio de Velasco, the Cathedral of the Bishopric, the Pulpit, and the Confessionary boxes. Besides get to visit the towns of San Miguel,
San José de Chiquitos: A town different from the missional group due to its stone work. The absence of tall trees used in the other missional churches for the great columns for the facade, and the presence of slab - stone quarries and lime deposits, definitely differentiate San Jose de Chiquitos. Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Rafael, and San José – make up a living heritage on the former territory of Chiquitos.
San Javier, Concepción,
